Introduction: An endless spiral of connectivity? -- Prelude: Digital tornado: the internet and telecommunication policy (1997) selected excerpts / Kevin Werbach -- Part one. Networks. The regulated end of internet law, and the return to computer and information law? / Christopher T. Marsden -- Networks, standards, and network-and-standard-based governance / Julie E. Cohen -- Tech dominance and the policeman at the elbow / Tim Wu -- Part two. Algorithms. Who do we blame for the filter bubble? On the roles of math, data, and people in algorithmic social systems / Kartik Hosanagar and Alex P. Miller -- Regulating the feedback effect / Viktor Mayer-Schönberger -- Shaping our tools: contestability as a means to promote responsible algorithmic decision making in the professions / Daniel N. Kluttz, Nitin Kohli, and Deidre K. Mulligan -- Part three. Humanity. Why a commitment to pluralism should limit how humanity is re-engineered / Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger -- Caveat usor: surveillance capitalism as epistemic inequality / Shoshana Zuboff -- The siren song: algorithmic governance by blockchain / Kevin Werbach.
Summary:
Networks powered by algorithms are pervasive. Major contemporary technology trends - Internet of Things, Big Data, Digital Platform Power, Blockchain, and the Algorithmic Society - are manifestations of this phenomenon. The internet, which once seemed an unambiguous benefit to society, is now the basis for invasions of privacy, massive concentrations of power, and wide-scale manipulation. The algorithmic networked world poses deep questions about power, freedom, fairness, and human agency. The influential 1997 Federal Communications Commission whitepaper “Digital Tornado” hailed the “endless spiral of connectivity” that would transform society, and today, little remains untouched by digital connectivity. Yet fundamental questions remain unresolved, and even more serious challenges have emerged. This collection of essays, which offers a reckoning and a foretelling, features leading technology scholars who explain the legal, business, ethical, technical, and public policy challenges of building pervasive networks and algorithms for the benefit of humanity. --From publisher description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.